Use of Gap Analysis Technique to improve performance of Family Physician Program Case study: Rural Health Centers, Yazd, Iran Download PDF

Introduction: Structure and framework of health care services provision system are worthy of attention regarding its qualitative and quantitative aspects. Health system will fail to preserve and improve public health or it will waste the available physical/human resource if it fails to follow scientific principles and logics. Objective: The present study is an attempt to use gap analysis technique to determine the status quo of provision of health services in health centers and to achieve bases for improving quality of services for family physician program. Methodology: In this applied, descriptive, and cross-sectional study, a checklist (confirmed through Delphi method) was used for data gathering. The checklists were filled out by the experts of administrative sector of Mehriz Health Network. The collected data was analyzed in SPSS 21 and Excel by using descriptive statistics and T-test. Results: Mean score of quality of health services of the 28 health centers under study was 15.43. The results showed that environment hygiene, and job hygiene, and health education departments obtained lower scores comparing with fighting diseases unit, school health and nutrition departments. The findings helped us to determine which departments of Mehriz health network needs to act more for improving quality of performance in Family Physician Program. Conclusion: Gap analysis technique gives a clear picture of the current state and the gap that needs to be filled to reach the ideal situation. By paying more attention to the areas with higher priority of improvement, the health centers may improve quality of their services more efficiently.